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Monday, 13 June 2016

Nigerian Army explains recent retirement exercise

The Nigerian Army has denied allegations that those affected by the
recent retirement exercise it embarked upon were deliberately pooled
from a section of the country to further advance a 'northern agenda',
describing the reports as "unfair and unethical."
In a statement issued late Sunday by its acting director of public
relations, Sani Usman, the Nigerian Army pushed back against the
attacks, saying the exercise was carried out in strict compliance with
the country's extant laws.
"The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to speculations and
rumours regarding the number and names of the senior Army officers
affected in the recent retirement exercise.
"This is worrisome as some individuals and media houses went to the
ridiculous extent of publishing outrageous figures and names of
serving officers as being retired. This is unethical and unfair.
"We are quite aware that some mischievous elements are trying to whip
up sentiments. This is quite unfortunate because all the affected
officers were retired based on Service exigencies and in line with the
Armed Forces Act, CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004," the
Army said.
Mr. Sani, a colonel, also gave a breakdown of the affected officers by ranks.
"We wish to state that only 38 senior officers were affected by the
retirement exercise.
"For the avoidance of doubt the following is the statistics of the
officers retired compulsorily; 9 Major Generals, 10 Brigadier
Generals, 7 Colonels, 11 Lieutenant Colonels and a Major."
"The Army does not thrive on that. These people were retired strictly
in accordance with the dictates of the Armed Forces Act and not based
on ethnic or tribal consideration. The context of the law is what the
people should look at," Mr. Sani said.